Jury Fails To Reach A Verdict In Vitesser Semiconductor Case

A federal jury in New York has failed to reach agreement in the trial of two West Coast businessmen accused of defrauding investors by inflating company earnings and backdating options at Vitesse Semiconductor Corp., a California-based company. Reuters reported that after a jury could not reach a unanimous verdict following four days of deliberations, the judge declared a mistrial in the case of Louis Tomasetta, the company's former chief executive officer, and Eugene Hovanec, formerly executive vice president for the chip maker. The two had faced seven counts for allegedly cooking the books before they were fired from Vitesse in 2006. Two other former executives of the company have already entered guilty pleas. The office of the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan declined comment on the mistrial, but can retry the case if it chooses, Reuters said.